Sunday 14 June 2015

H2H: The By-Stander Effect



I watch a lot of crime movies & series. Even though I studied corporate law, there's something that draws me to criminal law. Sometime in the week, I was watching Law & Order. The scene was at a Campus and a live feed was showing around the campus. It was a video of a girl being raped. Everyone watched the horrific video but no one called the cops till the rapist finished the rape and the feed was disconnected. When the students were asked why they didn't call the cops, they each replied "I thought someone else would". This is called the "By-Stander Effect"; where nobody does anything because they think someone else will.


I have a passion for change but there are so many people doing what I want to do and that has kept me from doing it. I remember telling a friend and he said "if all these people decided not to do it because others are doing it, no one will do it". That seems like a play on words but it isn't. It made me realise how many times as human beings we've seen an opportunity for change but we don't take advantage of it because we are too busy with our own lives and believe someone else will do it. How many times have we refused to stand up for people who are "lower" than us? How many times have we refused to help when we obviously can? How many times have we seen a house burn down when we could have been firefighters? How many times have we being by-standers when we could have made a better call? 

I get it. Being a by-stander is easier than taking actions. But God commands us not to be by-standers, but to help people. To make the call. Even if we cannot help directly, to inform the people who can. Sometimes, taking actions will get you stared at, laughed at...even leave you embarrassed. But if we are true believers of Christ, then we cannot be by-standers. The next time you see a person being taken advantage of, I hope you stand up for them. The next time you see the opportunity to make a change in your generation even if it is just a change in one person's life, I hope you don't stand by. I hope you make the call. Stand up for the suicidal, the poor, the disadvantaged, the lost, the hurt and most importantly, stand up for yourself. Taking actions doesn't mean you love your neighbour more than you love yourself, it means you love your neighbour as much as you love yourself. If you learn to stand up for yourself, you'll learn to stand up for others.


"And Jesus said; love your neighbour as yourself - Matthew 12:31"

Have a good week.

Lots of Love,

7 yorum:

  1. Thanks for posting this,it's really needed in our society especially with social media making it easier

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  2. Thank you so much for that piece. Today is a great day to start being different if we are "by standers"

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  3. Felt like you were reading my thought... do it now. Don't assume someone else is doing it. Words to live by.
    New commenter in the house..whoop whoop. Nice blog you have here. Keep it up.mwahhhh

    www.mylifeasmoby.com

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  4. My parents used to talk about this a lot when we were growing up. It is easy to assume that someone will do it when we can do it. Thanks for this

    www.mololasblog.com

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  5. So true
    Well done for spreading the word

    www.jbshares.com

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  6. Fantastic post, and so true! Thank you for sharing.

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  7. Thanks for reading guys. It means a whole lot xx

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I am so glad you're taking the time out to comment. It really does put a smile on my face ♥